'The Last Charge of the 6th Regment (sic) of Bengal and the 6th Regiment of Madras Light Cavalry on the 16th December 1817'

Coloured lithograph by Denis Dighton after R Woolf (Cap), published by C Hullmandel, 1818 (c).

The Battle of Nagpore took place during the 3rd Maratha War (1816-1819). On 26 November 1817 around 18000 men under the command of Bhonsla the Raja of Nagpore attacked a small force led by Lieutenant-Colonel H. S. Scott at Seetabuldee near Nagpore. Scott's force included three troops of the 6th Bengal Cavalry, two battalions from the 20th and 24th Madras Native Infantry and several units of auxiliaries.

They bravely resisted for around 18 hours and eventually forced the Nagpore army to withdraw. They remained surrounded however and relief, in the form of Brigadier-General Doveton's 2nd Division of the Army of the Deccan, did not arrive until 12 December. Four days later the British assaulted Nagpore and after several hours fighting the 21000-strong Nagpore army was routed. Several thousand men withdrew into the city where they capitulated on 24 December after several days bombardment.